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Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I can't believe how little I see this among Disney-fans and in Disney-related shops. It is sad, because the two main characters Basil and Ratigan are among their most enjoyable. As much as I love The Great Mouse Detective I must confess that aside from the amazing Big Ben climax the animation is not among the studio's greatest accomplishments, but that is a minor detail. Speaking of the climax, it really is among Disney's greatest. The way the music builds up, the perfectly rendered CG in the bell tower and Ratigan's degeneration into his true self is just suspenseful. Ratigan is also among the most underrated and enjoyable Disney villains, period! Vincent price just engulfs himself in this evil- doer who loves every single second of it. His little running gag about not wanting to be called a rat is hilarious. He is great! Basil's giant ego is also enjoyable. He and Ratigan play off one another with perfection. They are the focus of the story and that is also what it should be. There is not too many side characters who steal screen time. The Great Mouse Detective certainly does deserve more attention. Watch it and enjoy some great voice acting and a great climax.

In this movie, that most people have not seen, we are shown the great sophistication and creativity of the Disney studios. First of all, we are taken to a wonderful subculture, the world of rodents in the city of London. A young female mouse loses her father, a toy maker, and is left alone. She goes to the Sherlock Holmes of mice to get help. In the process, she is introduced to the dark underbelly of this culture, populated with the worst of the worst, including a Moriarty figure, Ratigan. As is the case with most Disney animated villains, his hiring practices leave something to be desired as he surrounds himself with useless ding dongs. This has an intricate plot and is quite captivating. A real plus is Ratigan, who is voiced by the inimitable Vincent Price.

In 1986, Disney released this film with much success. The movie was based on the children's book series, 'Basil of Baker Street' by Eve Titus, which in return, draws heavily on the character of Sherlock Holmes by author, Arthur Conan Doyle and the 1930s/1940s film series, that star Basil Rathbone as the iconic character and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. Directed by four directors, Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, David Michener, & John Musker, the film set in 19th century, Victorian London, tells the story of a anthropomorphic mouse detective, Basil (Voiced by Barrie Ingham) & his associate, Major Dr. David Q. Dawson (Voiced by Val Bettin) on their quest to find a missing girl's parents, while uncovering a master plan by their arch-enemy, Professor Ratigan (Voiced by Vincent Price) to overthrow the British monarchy. Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, the idea of a toymaker, being apparently capable of building a life-size mechanical figure in the space of a few days is a bit, unrealistic, but it's something that you have suspense your disbelief about. Another thing is, how there are a few differences between Basil in the book series and in the film version, such as mood swings, the musical instrument in which he plays, and the type of animal that Basil's enemy is. One of the biggest changes, during production was the character of Olivia Flaversham (Voiced by Susanne Pollatschek), who was originally intended to be older and a love-interest, before it was decided that she should be a child to appeal to kids. I think, the decision to turn her into a child, gave the movie, so much, more weight, as it allow, Basil to become a well-rounded person, than a selfish-driven moody jerk, like Holmes was. I also like, how while, Basil and Dawson were visually based on actor, Rathbone and Bruce's version of the Holmes & Watson; their voices and personalities were not. Basil's voice was based on Leslie Howard's portrayal of Henry Higgins in the 1938 film, 'Pygmalion' while Dawson's voice was based on Disney animation legend, Eric Larson. Ingham was a great choice for Basil, as he was able to show the incredibly expressive, hyperactive unless quite visibly depressed, always overdramatic side of Basil. The actor was also known to give dramatic hand gesturing when speaking, allowing the animators to have a lots of raw film material to work with! In fact, even Vincent Price was the same. Price's every word as the dastardly Ratigan is delightful deliciously and his singing voice wasn't half-bad. By far, the music in this film are some of the best, Disney has ever produce. Songs like 'The World's Greatest Criminal Mind', 'Let me be good to you' and 'Goodbye, So Soon' are wonderful. Even the background music by composter Henry Mancini was amazing to hear. It has that epic adventurous tone to it. Another thing that I love, about this film is the humor, both in slapstick and its clever use of language and film/novel references. All the scenes between Basil, Dawson and Olivia, together, had this charm with them. I love the running gag of Basil's mispronouncing Olivia's last name. It was very funny. I also love, the fact, for a G-rated movie, this movie has gotten away with a lot of PG and even a bit of PG-13 material, with its sex appeal. Ask anybody, what was the most appealing part about this film, and some of them, would mention, the stripping mouse named Miss Kitty (Voiced by Melissa Manchester). It's surely left an impact on me. Talk about having a boner for a furry character. Another thing, good about this film is the intense action. The toy store and the clock-tower sequences, are some of the best action scenes, I have ever seen in a Disney movie. I also like how the city of London plays as a big a role in the plot as any of the characters. Because of things like that, I found the film to be, well done, despite the film, having a troublesome production. After the box office failure of the 1985's 'The Black Cauldron', the future of Disney animation department was in financial trouble. In the interest of saving what he believed to be the studio's core business, co-owner Roy E. Disney persuaded then CEO Michael Eisner to let him supervise the animation department in the hopes of improving its affluences. With the help of Eisner and film studio executive, Jeffrey Katzenberg, they somewhat did, with some very controversial choices. One of their roles, was to removed, the two animators that create the last bomb, Ron Clement & John Musker from this film and had them on other works. Second off, they had to cut the film's budget in half in order to save the film from being shelfed. They did this, by allowing the much-cheaper computer animation into the climax of the film, to cut the cost of hand-drawn animation & shorten the production schedule and multiple story rewrites. Most of their ideas kinda work. Others, maybe not too much, like the studio's decision to name the film, 'The Great Mouse Detective' and not 'Basil of Baker Street', because he felt that Basil sounded too English. The name change earned a good deal of scorn and infamy, even from inside the studio. The results of it, set off a chain of events that left the company's odd decisions, to be immortalized in a famous January 1987 episode of game-show, 'Jeopardy!' where it was highly mock. It didn't help that the movie was overshadowed at the box office at the time, by Don Bluth's 1986's 'An American Tail'. It would take years for Disney to recover from that. Overall: While, this movie was made during the company's dark period. I have to say, this 26th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, is an underrated classic that needs to be watch, a lot more than it's been getting. So go see it.

Under-appreciated is the best way to describe "The Great Mouse Detective" because you never hear mention of this movie. "Renaissance" this and "Classic Disney" that, but never this one. And it's a shame really, since this is a fun, well put-together flick. There's life to the animation (for a story told from a mouse's level, it's pretty good-looking), it makes good use of early CGI, and I really like the new spin on the subject matter while paying respect to earlier Sherlock Holmes adaptations. This is a real treat; good characters, dastardly plot and an outsized adventure.7/10